An EPA laboratory in Houston is struggling to do its work because of a skills shortfall, which is being made worse by a planned agency move to a town 400 miles away, four current and former lab staffers tell Bloomberg Law.
Several skilled scientists have either retired or found other jobs because they don’t want to uproot their lives and move to Ada, Okla., where the Environmental Protection Agency lab is scheduled to move in 2027, the employees said.
“I’ve been in Houston over 30 years and already have my home, so why would I want to move somewhere else, to a small little town?” said Abel Euresti, a veteran microbiologist in the Houston lab, who opted for retirement in December 2020 after concluding “it wasn’t worth it” to move.
The Houston lab does chemical and microbiological analyses of air, water, and soil samples throughout Region 6, which spans Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico, as well as 66 tribal nations.
An EPA spokeswoman said the agency “has heard and takes seriously the concerns of its employees related to this relocation.” But she said the move—which started under former EPA head and Oklahoman Scott Pruitt—will continue.
The region is home to many chemical factories, oil facilities, and ports, making it a hot spot for unauthorized releases. Some of the lab’s past work has addressed the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and a 2016 chemical...
She is 66 and on Original Medicare. Her latest Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) lists a $1,200 knee brace from a supplier she has never heard of. Her knees are fine and no package ever came. Medicare...